Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. This past month has been very full. Heidi and I must take a moment to thank each of you for your prayers during three very difficult weeks of health issues and the necessary medical procedures. All reports are good, and God is better. Thank you for your calls, encouragements, and expressed concerns this month.
Sunday, we shared an excellent service as we observed the Lord’s Supper. When we observe the Lord’s Supper as a congregation, we remember our Lord’s actions personally. What Jesus Christ did for each of us physically is received personally and faithfully in the partaking of the Lord’s Supper as a congregation.
This evening, we have an excellent opportunity to hear testimony of one of the greatest mission opportunities of our generation – Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is a global ministry we can all support. The small gifts from us individually is miraculously multiplied to the most needly of children around the world. Tonight, we will welcome Angie Meridith and Tayna Reeves who will testify to the effectiveness and the joy Operation Christmas Child brings to so many. Come tonight and invite someone to join you. We begin at 6:00pm with a meal in the fellowship hall and then we will move to the sanctuary for the testimonial. Join us for a sure blessing.
Then don’t forget the fifth Sunday this month for our “Fifth Sunday Fellowship”. The Bethel Baptist congregation always responds so well to this fellowship. As the Lord places a name on your heart, or if you have been challenged to invite someone or a family to Bethel Baptist, the Fifth Sunday Fellowship is the perfect time to do so. Mark your calendars or put the date in your phone for September 29th. The fellowship will begin immediately after the worship service.
Over the past five weeks, and in our previous Matthew sermon series in we have focused upon “faith”. Learning who to believe and living what we believe. In Matthew we learned who to believe in, and now from the life of Elisha we see how to live. We are not to compare our faith to, Elisha’s, or anyone else in the Bible. Certainly, we can emulate the faithful actions of others, but we must also be faithful to obey what God is telling us. In Matthew’s Gospel and in the life of Elisha we see functional faith as we live properly with God as the source of our faith. Christians have opened God’s gift of faith in the same way as did the men and women of our Bible.
Sunday will be our conclusion in the life of Elisha. Elisha was not taken to heaven like is mentor Elijah. The Bible tells us, “Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die”. Elisha like all of us, unless the Lord returns, will experience death. Elisha has one final faith lesson to teach us before he went God in Heaven. Elisha on his death bed, is approached by the King of Israel in a panic, the king is ruling a famine-stricken country, he faces an invading enemy more powerful than he, and he comes to Elisha in a time of paralyzing indecision. The call to faithful action provided by Elisha must be followed by each of us personally and by all of us congregationally. We will be required to act in faith, and our actions will prove our faithfulness. The King of Israel learned this. We must also.
Incredible things are waiting for us at Bethel Baptist Church. These are not deserved things, nor earned things. What we have waiting for us are God’s gifts. God’s gift of faith is not our only gift or our last gift. Faith is God’s first gift. Like faith, God’s other gifts must be opened to be received. Believing in God is amazing, good, and powerful. But functioning with God’s faith is miraculous as we see our faith in action. God wants to show us His miracles and be glorified through them. So, God wants us to open the gifts He has given us. Let your faith function this week and watch God work. Invite someone to our fellowship at Bethel Baptist Church. Believe in what we have at Bethel Baptist Church for you and for others. Everyone wants what we have at Bethel Baptist, “They just don’t know it yet!”
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael
